I was born in Kapuskasing, in Northern Ontario. I grew up almost entirely in French in this predominantly French speaking community, since that's practically all we spoke at home, at school, and with friends. But in Ontario, there wasn't much francophone music playing on the radio, and certainly not much of my favourite franco-ontarian artists, such as CANO, Garolou, Robert Paquette, and Paul Demers. At home, my mother would often play French-Canadian folk songs on the piano, especially those from "La bonne chanson."

Eventually, like so many young adults from Northern Ontario, I left to study at university, in Southern Ontario, where life was predominantly in English. I always anticipated with great impatience re-uniting with family up North, making the ritual of the interminable bus ride up to Kapuskasing so worth it! After all, you can take a soul out of the North, but you can't take the North out of the soul! The years went by, and I eventually met my best beloved in Toronto, and started raising a bilingual family in Mimico, on the shores of Lake Ontario.

I've always loved francophone music, from Daniel Lavoie to//Zachary Richard, but I've also always been passionate about Canadian artists of all languages. Through the years, it's songs from such groups as CANO, /De temps antan///and /Great Big Sea///that have most resonated with me, marrying the traditional folk sounds with a stirring rhythm. Oh, how I would have loved to been able to play guitar!

Then, on Christmas morning just over four years ago, I found - oh joy! - a gift under our tree: a guitar! Slowly, I started learning how to play, following lessons on the internet, but it was such a steep learning curve! Eventually, I started taking lessons with a folk guitarist with a wonderful voice, Jayne Mitchell (jaynemitchell.ca). I was able to finally learn some of my favourite Canadian songs, and also discovered many other Canadian folk musicians. Next, I was lucky enough to take Skype lessons with Steeve Langevin (folkguitar.ca), a passionate folk guitarist from the city of Québec, and to learn some of my favourite French-Canadian songs!

At the tail end of the summer of 2016, I wrote my first song, "Kap à Toronto". Shortly thereafter, I met Mike Ford (mikeford.ca) at the Mimico Centennial Library, just a stone's throw from our home. The kids and I had gone down to the library to borrow some books when Mike, a former member of the iconic Canadian folk-pop group Moxy Früvous/,/ heard us speaking in French and came over to introduce himself. He talked about the Artist in Library program in which he would be participating, and invited us to come back that afternoon to listen to live music in the library's courtyard. On this beautiful, sunny, early Fall afternoon, we came back and listened to Mike sing beautiful songs, in both French and English. We chatted about Canadian folk music, from Félix Leclerc to Great Big Sea, and about our franco-ontarien roots. I mentioned that I had just finished writing my first song, and he asked if I would be willing to play it for him - which I did with great pleasure! This was the start of my musical journey with Mike...

Each Wednesday, from September to January, I walked down to the Mimico library, guitar in tow, to work on songs with Mike, in both French and English. To work on my songs! Little by little, a second song took form, then a third, and in the wink of an eye, I had my own repertoire of songs. It was an incredible and unforgettable experience to come and chat with Mike, to play music with him, to work on my songs, and through his expertise, his passion, and his mentoring, to watch them grow into beautiful songs! What an incredible joy! Many thanks go to the Toronto Arts Council for their /Artists In The Library///program, the Mimico Centennial Library, and, above all, milles mercis Mike!